Noel sat on a Discord call with Tubbo in a comfortable silence, sipping his McDonald's shamrock shake (it was March, and he was glad; this was his favorite thing ever from McDonald's).
"Tommy tells me you met his twin brother today." Tubbo interrupted the silence with a comment that brought a tiny smile to Noel's face.
"Yeah." He blurted. "He's cute and I got his number."
Tubbo fell silent. Noel nearly dropped his phone as he realized what he'd just said.
"Uhm, I--" He cut himself off and just let the suffocating silence speak for itself. No need to dig himself a deeper hole.
"...Ranboo," Tubbo very softly asked, "Are you gay?"
Noel paused for a moment. How to answer that one? None of his online friends knew.
"I mean, well," He responded nervously. "Maybe?"
Tubbo paused.
"huh. That's cool." And with that he seemed to move on, but Noel was not about to move on that fast.
"Wait, what? You're...you're okay with that?" He asked. Tubbo snorted.
"Did you think you were friends with a homophobe? I'm hurt."
Noel smiled.
"Nah, I'd be in the UK kicking your ass if you were a homophobe."